Chapter 9

“So that’s all she said,” Calvin remarked more than he asked. He got up from his chair and decided it was now a good time to have another beer. As he opened the fridge door he also added, “well, at least we now know Danni’s ok.”

Norm was in a bad mood but, then again, what was new? He sat there at the commissary table and spent most of his time in deep thought. He did take the time to reply to Calvin though, “ok is a relative term in this case. I can only think one of reason to get a call like that from her.”

Amy was still brooding on her side of the table. She shot Norm a nasty look and told him, “maybe because, oh, I don‘t know, you are an ass hole?”

Norm glanced up at the clock on the wall and then told Amy, “don’t you have somewhere to be? I know you not going over there looking like that.”

Cal walked back to his seat and did have to comment, “that is a different look for you.”

Amy snorted, balled up her fists, and then stormed out the screen door.

Cal and Norm exchanged glances and Cal said, “don’t look at me. I’m pretty sure it was something you said.”

Almost as if on cue, Tony and that blond headed girl came walking in. Norm had almost expected it since he knew they were out by the beach. Now Amy was out there and, sure enough, she had claimed their spot and won. That was written all over Tony’s face. He was trying to stay cool but Norm knew better. On the other hand, the blond acted like nothing had happened at all. She was also practically leading Tony around by the nose or some other protruding part of his anatomy.

Leslie plopped down in a chair and, like he was being psychically commanded, Tony actually sat down next to her. Norm could not remember the last time he actually saw that boy using a chair in here. He was in the habit of sitting on tables, counter spaces, and anything else that was meant for other purposes.

Leslie looked at the two older guys in the room and said, “I guess I picked a bad day to drop by looking for work.”

It was Tony who said, “well it does sound like we’re about to have a position open.”

“Tony,” Norm snapped. “You might should keep your trap shut about that. It’s an internal matter.”

Before Tony could argue and, it was quite clear he wanted too, Leslie actually spoke up for him and was quite apologetic, “oh hey, I completely agree. It was kind of the same thing on the Roby. We didn’t take to outsiders too much.”

“It’s not that Miss,” Norm had to think to remember her name and then said, “Tatersall, right?” When she nodded that it was correct he went on, “it’s just that this is a law enforcement agency too. We deal with sensitive issues and that includes the status of our personnel.”

Leslie shook her head deeply and said, “I understand.”

“Good,” Norm was not sure if the girl was yanking his chain or not. It did not matter in the end. The girl gave him an opening and he took it, “so if you’ll excuse us. We do have some business to discuss.”

At least the girl did know when to take a hint. She politely excused herself and Norm waited until he heard her car driving off. He was actually about to say something when Cal, who was obviously listening for the car as well, burst out with, “are you that stupid or what?”

Tony, who had his back to the guy, wrinkled his nose and gave Cal a very slight glance before, “it’s none of your business. We were just surfing anyway.”

Once again Norm tried to speak but Cal was not done with his rant, “and what was all that stuff about Earth last night? You couldn’t stop ranting about it and this morning you already got a replacement to hang ten with.”

Now Tony looked over his shoulder and huffed, “we were just surfing.”

“Oh,” Cal slung his arm at Tony, “everybody knows what you do on that surfboard.”

Kent came walking in from the barracks side and went to the coffee maker. He whimsically said, “well it’s good to see that things are getting back to normal. What was this ranting about Earth business?”

Tony snipped, “it’s none of your business.”

As Kent waited for the coffee he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, “Mister Tippet, do you really believe that if it had been her in that chopper, instead of me, that all of this wouldn’t have happened?”

Tony snarled at the guy, “I’ve seen you getting pretty friendly with her Kent. Don’t try blowing smoke up my ass. I noticed you jumped at the chance to go and rescue her last night.”

“Aye,” Kent nodded, “that I did. Course you were passed out down on the beach at the time, so, someone had to do it.”

Tony wanted to jump out of his chair and lunge at the guy. Even if Cal was almost too his feet, to stop Tony, Kent did not react at all. He just leaned on the same counter spot and maintained that same smug look he always had. None of which did a thing to stop Tony. The situation resolved itself when Norm pulled his weapon out.

Tony stopped and looked at Norm in shock, “are you threatening me Norm? You going to take his side in this?”

“No Tony,” Norm said as he flipped the gun around in his hand so that the grip was facing forward. Then Norm slapped the weapon down on the table, patted it twice, and pulled his hand back. “If you’re going kill Golden boy then don’t waste my time doing it. Take the gun and do it right. Otherwise sit your ass down.”

Tony did not sit but he did not move forward either. Then Kent said, “Mister Tippet, when it comes to that girl out there, I’m the last thing you need to be worried about.”

Norm just half mumbled, “he’s right about that much Tony.”

Finally Tony sat back down. He was still fuming but, it was becoming obvious that his control was returning. Norm put his weapon away and then said, “all right. Now that we have that settled…” Norm then shot a glance to Kent who only just nodded back. Norm then turned his attention back to Tony, “what did she tell you?”

Tony was quite confused, “who? Leslie?”

Cal replied, “yeah, Leslie. What? You think she just drives all the way across the island because she thinks this is a cool place to work?”

Tony just shrugged, “I just thought she was grateful. Wanted to get in on the action. Something like that.”

Norm let the guy in on it, “Cal hinted to all the survivors that we needed some experienced seaman on the payroll.”

Cal waited for Tony to look at him before he said, “and guess who showed up.”

“I don’t get it,” Tony told them looking back and forth between Calvin and Norm, “why would you do that?”

“What Tony,” Norm told him, “you think all that stuff happened at the same time by accident? The people that broke in here knew exactly when and where to hit us.”

Tony did not believe it, even when he said it, “are you saying that accident was deliberate?”

Kent added, “accident’s aren’t deliberate Mister Tippet. Sabotage, however, is quite another story. I was in the water along side Roby Celeste longer than anyone. She had secondary explosions going off for over an hour. The crew said the engine spaces were completely engulfed in flames. Nothing on that ship could burn like that for so long.”

Norm was drumming his fingers on the table when he told Tony, “sound familiar?”

It really did not but, what Tony did know was, “is this why you’ve been so paranoid lately? Is this why Barbara is acting all loopy?”

Cal added, “well loopier.”

“No I’m serious Cal,” Tony demanded.

Norm just shook his head. This had already gone further than he intended it too. “Don’t you worry about Barbara. She’s dealing with other issues right now.”

Tony was deep in thought. Then in an agitated way he said, “all of this started when Barton showed up. He’s got to be connected to this somehow.”

“You let me worry about him Tony,” Norm said with an ice cold stare.

It appeared as if Tony were not even listening, “and what does this have to do with Amy? Do you think her run in with the Germans had something to do with all this?”

Norm remained cold and calm, “right now I assuming everything does.”

Cal was still unconvinced, “like what? The Wehrmacht have never exactly been the easiest people to deal with even in the best of times. I say, that little blond headed girl, that just walked out of here, is our best lead right now.”

Norm stood up and walked to the back hallway door, “here’s an idea Cal. Let me do the thinking on this.” Norm did not bother to listen to anything else they said. The coffee he had earlier was now working on his bladder.

With Norm gone, Tony turned his attention to Cal, “so are we going to do something about all this?”

It was Kent who replied, “what do you think we have been doing Mister Tippet.”

“Oh I get it,” Tony replied in an accusing tone, “everybody knows about all of this stuff but me.” Tony tossed a thumb at Kent but was looking Cal right in the eye, “you even told his highness but not me.”

“No one told me Mister Tippet,” Kent replied for Calvin. “I’m just not blind. How many times, in the history of this station, has people come in here with machineguns looking to kill everyone in sight? By my recollection, until the other night, never.”

On this island, Tony figured, it was just something that was bound to happen sooner or later. He certainly could not see a connection to anything else. The more he thought about it the more he realized that was because everybody had been keeping him in the dark!

Now that Kent had a cup of coffee in his hand he also remarked, “and I think someone tried to kill Barbara too.”

Cal’s head snapped around at that, “how do you figure that?”

“What,” Kent replied with a shrug, “she shows back up here the morning after someone tried to kill her daughter, with a cut on her belly that she won’t talk about, and now she says she’s resigning. You don’t find any of that a bit odd?”

“Wait a minute,” Cal protested, “how do you know she had a cut? I saw blood. We had blood all over the station that night. How do you know she just didn’t brush up against something.”

“I know fresh blood when I see it Mister Brandt,” Kent replied. After a sip of his coffee he said, “she wouldn’t let me look at it but, I do know for a fact, that she was taking bandages and ointment out of the emergency medical supplies. Besides, anyway, I don’t think that’s the important question you should be asking.”

Cal just shrugged, “yeah and what is then?”

Kent’s eyes narrowed and he asked what seemed perfectly logical to him, “where did she go to get the cut?”

Tony put his fist on the table and then got up. He walked back towards the screen door, obviously about to knock it wide open. Kent, still calm, called to Tony. When the pilot turned it was obvious he was still pretty angry. Kent just shook his head and said, “Mister Tippet, maybe you should be concentrating on something that you can affect right now.”

Tony, who was still jumpy, with an angry tone, asked, “yeah Kent? Like what?”

Kent turned to walk back to his room. As he did he said, “she’s still standing out there Mister Tippet. If she really didn’t want to talk, I dare say, she would have left a while ago.”

Tony waited until he could hear Kent’s room door closing. Then Tony looked to Cal who quickly got up and headed for the stairs to Ops. He said along the way, “don’t look at me Tony. I’m not getting in the middle of that. You‘re on your own buddy.”

What was he supposed to do now? Tony looked out the screen door and saw Amy just standing there with her back to the station. Amy was at the edge of the beach and just watching the surf. She always loved to do that. Tony decided, after a second of getting ready, that he would do it too. He stopped right behind her but, said nothing.

Amy never acknowledged that he was there. At lest, not until she asked him, “is your new friend gone?”

“Um,” was all Tony could say. How did you answer that one? Finally the only thing that Tony could think of was, “yeah. She left already.”

Then Tony stumbled with his words some more but, he finally did manage to assemble a coherent sentence, “look Amy. I haven’t been trying too…”

She put her hand up for him to stop. Tony did so and with a great amount of relief. Amy licked her lips and bowed her head. She kept her back to him when she said, “I know Tony.” Amy shook her head and remained mournful when she said, “look, it’s not, not, what’s her name or any of that other stuff.”

Tony felt like somebody hit him with a lead bar. He blinked and then he said, “then what is it Amy? I’m sorry but, I really can’t think of a single thing that I’ve done that is this bad.”

Amy sniffed and pushed a tear off her cheek, “you didn’t.”

“Oh I get it now,” Tony replied, “this is the it’s me not you speech. Is that it? After all we’ve been through together.”

“No Tony,” she was almost pleading now. “You don’t understand what I’m go…”

Tony would not let her continue with it though, “and I’m not talking about the nights on my board or in your bed. What about everything else Amy? You had my back and I had yours. I don’t think, I couldn’t even imagine anybody else doing that but you.”

Finally, Amy turned around and looked at him, “is it really that simple for you?”

Tony blinked again. She was definitely jumping into a territory that Tony had not considered and, for that matter, did not even know existed. He took a deep breath and huffed out, “yeah. I guess it is. I’m sorry if I can’t be more than that but, yeah, it’s who I am.”

Amy actually cracked a shy smile. It also wanted to make her cry even more. She saw how much it was confusing Tony though. So, she said, “that’s what I always loved about you the most. I even envied it. Tony, I wish my life could be that simple but, it isn’t.”

“And what is that supposed to mean exactly,” he replied. It was strange to Amy because even if he was still tense, that question did not seem to come from anger as much as it did concern.

“What it means is,” Amy told him, “don’t think that I don’t care about you. I really do. Just believe me when I say I’m doing this for both of us.”

“I get it,” Tony said as his nostrils flared. “This is the part where you say it’s all for the best. OK, if you really want to play it that way,”

It was obvious to Amy that he did not accept it. A part of her could not blame him. She mournfully walked past Tony, towards the parking area, and told him as she left, “tell Norm I’m taking one of the cars. I have to go get dressed.”

Tony never moved. He just said, “yeah you do that.”